Akemi Takahashi, 5, works in her Bellevue garden. "I wanted to help people like Calista," she said.

Akemi Takahashi, 5, works in her Bellevue garden. "I wanted to help people like Calista," she said.

Photo: Mike Kane/P-I

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Once the wagon is loaded with fresh vegetables, Akemi is off to peddle her produce to friends, family and neighbors. The money she earns is donated to Northwest Harvest.

Once the wagon is loaded with fresh vegetables, Akemi is off to peddle her produce to friends, family and neighbors. The money she earns is donated to Northwest Harvest.

Photo: Mike Kane/P-I

Image 3 of 4

Akemi makes the rounds with her mother. Some neighbors pay the going rate, 50 cents per bag, while others chip in extra for a good cause. "I'm selling these vegetables to raise money for hungry kids," she tells them as she hands them a business card that identifies her as a "master gardener." less

Akemi makes the rounds with her mother. Some neighbors pay the going rate, 50 cents per bag, while others chip in extra for a good cause. "I'm selling these vegetables to raise money for hungry kids," she tells ... more

Photo: Mike Kane/P-I

Image 4 of 4

A friend's plight spurs 5-year-old to start her own produce-growing business

"These are the squash, that's the lettuce, and those are the baby carrots over there," she said, pointing her small hand in the direction of a row of frazzled-looking greens sprouting up out of the soil. She smiled as if she was about ready to divulge a big secret. "Sometimes I dig them up a little to look at them."

Many children plant gardens with the help of their parents, but Akemi's vegetable plot is more than a passing agriculture lesson.

"I had a really poor neighbor across the street, and she wasn't taken care of very good," she explained. "Every week they had to go to the food bank. She was really hungry."

Her friend, a 3 1/2-year-old named Calista who was often left unattended, would sometimes wander over to the Takahashi house for dinner, but after Child Protective Services removed Calista from her home last summer, Akemi worried about her young friend and other children like her.

"Some people don't get three meals a day. Sometimes they only get one or two," said Akemi. "I wanted to help people like Calista."

So with $7 she pulled from her piggy bank, Akemi bought some seeds and decided to plant a garden. She would sell her produce, she told her mother, to friends, family and neighbors, and donate all the money to the Seattle-based hunger relief agency Northwest Harvest -- an organization her mother told her about.

But her fledgling operation needed a name, she decided. After some thought, she settled on Akemi's Hungry Kids.

Her mother, Kathy Takahashi, dug up a 10-by-10-foot plot of lawn on the side of their Bellevue home, and Akemi planted cucumbers, radishes, corn, green onions, squash and carrots.

After making business cards and flyers that explained her project, she diligently watered and weeded, and when her garden produced a bumper crop of lettuce and radishes, she washed them, packaged them in Ziploc bags and loaded her red wagon.

With her mother, Akemi knocked on neighbors' doors and explained her project. "I'm selling these vegetables to raise money for hungry kids," she would say, handing out her business card with the title "master gardener" under her name.

Some neighbors paid the going rate, 50 cents per bag. Others offered more. When one man donated $5, Akemi said, "Wow! Thank you! This will really help a lot of kids. But if you give even more, you could help even more kids."

He then reached into his pocket and gave her $10 more.

"She has a big presence," said her mother. "People feel motivated to give more."

As a result, Akemi has now raised $241 for Northwest Harvest.

Kathy Takahashi said it can be difficult to broach subjects like hunger with children.

"The garden is a good way to talk about those sorts of things," she said. "The corn was stolen by crows, and the green onions never had a chance, but there are a lot of lessons the garden has provided."

Akemi likes to talk about those lessons, and the ones she has learned in her church Sunday school class.

"If you can give people food, God is very happy," she said. "Whatever job you do makes him very proud."

She paused before adding, "Except selling drugs."

Northwest Harvest, which receives no local, state or federal funding, is dependent upon community support, and when Kathy Takahashi called to tell the organization about Akemi's project, Maureen Brindle, publications manager for the organization, said she was touched.

"It's remarkable that parents are showing their kids the importance of social responsibility," Brindle said. "We love to see kids doing things to help the hungry. Those are the most meaningful donations."

In past years, Northwest Harvest has received many memorable gifts from children. Instead of receiving birthday presents, some have asked for canned food, which they've donated to the organization. Others have saved their allowances for months, hoping to feed the hungry rather than buy toys or candy for themselves.

Northwest Harvest supports 300 food banks across the state, and more than 40 percent of the people it reaches are children.

Northwest Harvest also sponsors the Three Squares program, which helps feed hungry children in 20 Seattle schools.

"We try to secure kid-friendly foods, but we like to focus on nutrition as much as possible," she added. Brindle and her colleagues are actively seeking monetary donations as well as non-perishable items such as canned fruits and vegetables, whole meals in packaged form, and staples such as peanut butter and jelly.

Brindle said donations to the organization are down $150,000 this year compared to last year.

"That's why drives like Akemi's are especially important," she said.

This fall, Akemi will continue to harvest her garden and raise money for Northwest Harvest.

"I wish I could give them a squash this big," she said, holding out her arms wide. "Then I could feed lots of hungry kids."